Talking About Plant Nutrients

This week at my Master Gardener course we learned about soil nutrients and how they affect the way our plants grow. Nutrients are pretty important to all plant growth, especially vegetables since they are generally annuals. Any plant that lives and dies in one year is going to require a lot of nutrients. There are […]

My Greenhouse

The greenhouse is half finished and I’m so, so happy with it. This is what it looked like only last week but over the weekend the glass went in and it has been transformed into my garden dream. In mid December it was just a base wall. Now it’s a beauty in the making. I’ve […]

All About Soil Structure

I learned all kinds of useful facts about soil at my last Master Gardener session so I thought I would share some of it here. I already knew some things about soil, like clay soils hold water and can be difficult to work, and sandy soils tend to be harder to keep in one place […]

Master Gardener Course

Last week I started the Master Gardener course at the Oregon State University. It’s 11-weeks of classroom learning followed by 11-weeks of practical gardening out and about in Portland. I’m so excited to be learning so much about gardening and being able to do it with people who are as enthusiastic as me about gardening. […]

My Plants Arrived

So… half of the plants have arrived for the ornamental part of the garden. They arrived on a big van while I was out so when I came home there was a surprise waiting for me on the driveway! I must confess to be really, really excited about putting them in. The weather here is […]

Planting a New Fig Tree

I’ve always wanted to grow a Fig tree, I’ve just never had the room. I used to work in an office where there was a beautiful and quite large Fig tree outside the window. It was covered in Figs come late Summer but no-one ever picked them. It was so sad. So here is my […]

Brand New Soil

The landscapers are virtually finished here in the garden. The last thing they did was to bring in this new, black, crumbly soil and dig it in to all of the beds. They have also hooked up my cute little copper mushroom lights that light the pathways at night. It’s all coming together nicely. The […]

Building Up My Seed Box Again

When I moved from the UK I had to give all my seeds away to neighbours and friends. The customs laws in the US prevented me from bringing them into the country. Understandable really and I didn’t mind at all. But, that meant that when I arrived my seedbox was empty. That was strange for […]